Bill To Give Cleveland Mayor School Control Advances

A bill in the Ohio legislature that
would hand Cleveland's mayor broad control over his city's beleaguered
public schools is a shoo-in for passage, several school officials,
lawmakers, and union leaders say.

Among other provisions, the bill would give Mayor Michael R. White
the power to appoint a nine-member school board and the
superintendent.

Backed by prominent corporate executives and clergy, the bill
coasted through the House on May 8 and is expected to pass the Senate
by the end of the month or early next month. Republican Gov. George V.
Voinovich is poised to sign it into law, and supporters of the bill are
confident the federal court overseeing the 72,000-student district will
approve the plan.

A federal judge ordered the state two years ago to take the reins of
the debt-ridden, low-achieving school district. The bill is the state's
latest response to the mandate.("'Crisis' Spurs State Takeover Of
Cleveland," March 15, 1995.)

"We're trying to put power back in the hands of local people like
the mayor who know the most effective way to run the schools," said
Mark Potts, a legislative aide to Rep. Michael W. Wise, a Republican
and one of the bill's sponsors.

Mr. Potts said the bill is modeled on the governance system the
Illinois legislature enacted for the Chicago school district, where a
mayorally appointed board and chief executive took over in
1995.

Challenges Ahead

But smooth sailing in the legislature doesn't mean the Cleveland
bill--if passed--would go into effect immediately.

The local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People, keenly interested in a student body that is 70 percent
black, is promising a legal challenge to any change in school
governance that is not approved by a voter referendum. If the bill
becomes law, voters would not have a direct say in the district
administration for another four years, when they could decide to keep
the appointed school board or pick a new one.

The Cleveland Teachers' Union, whose members are still fuming from
what they saw as hostile interference by the mayor in last year's
contract negotiations, is also staunchly opposed to the plan and may
join the almost-certain court battle.

"We think this is an attempt by the state of Ohio to pass the
football to the mayor so [the state] won't be educationally and
economically responsible" for the district, said Michael Charney, the
political liaison for the 5,000-member union.

Union and NAACP ire was further provoked by the fact that the House
bill altering the governance of the district was sponsored by two
white, suburban lawmakers: Mr. Wise and Rep. William G. Batchelder, a
fellow Republican. "I call it white colonialism," Mr. Charney said.

Nearly every Democrat, including all but one of the lawmakers from
Cleveland, voted against the bill, even though Mr. White is a member of
their party. Nearly every Republican, some of whom were won over by the
GOP governor's support, voted in favor of the plan. Republicans hold
big majorities in the House and the Senate.

Since the state took over the Cleveland schools and named district
Superintendent Richard Boyd, school officials have restructured about
$150 million in debt and helped pass a levy estimated to generate $67
million a year for the system.

The district's problems are far from over, however. Nearly every
school building needs renovations, only 20 percent of its 9th graders
pass a state proficiency test, and only 75 percent of the students show
up on an average school day.

Mr. Boyd, a former superintendent in two other Ohio districts and
the former state schools superintendent in Mississippi, said he would
not be a candidate for a mayorally appointed schools post.

But he doesn't expect to be out of a job any time soon, and
certainly not in time for the new school year.